Lansingburgh great Youngs headed to Capital Region Football Hall of Fame

Kenny Youngs is second all time in rushing yards in Section II football history with 5,045, which he set with Lansingburgh High School. He is being elected in the Capital Region Football Hall of Fame.
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Kenny Youngs led Lansingburgh high school to four state championships, winning two. Youngs is being elected to the Capital Region Football Hall of Fame on July 29.
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ALBANY, N.Y. >> The 8th Annual Capital Region Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on July 29 at the Radisson Hotel in Albany at 6 p.m. and several area players are being honored.

President of the Capital District Hall of Fame Nick Fitzgerald said the main factor in each member’s selection is their high school performance.

“The main thing is, we decided this would be a high school hall of fame,” Fitzgerald said. “You had to have had a stellar high school career and if you had a great college career, that is great, but the high school career is the main deciding factor. The reason we have it set that way is because you have some of these smaller schools, the Class B and C schools, that might not have players go on to major college careers, but had major impact on their program and were just great football players. That’s why we wanted to make it high school first.”

Fitzgerald has been heading the program since its inception and said it has gotten better each year he has been in charge.

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“You just have to look at all the players,” Fitzgerald said. “When you think about it, we are putting in quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, defensive linemen, offensive linemen and we put about 12 or 14 players in each year, so we have only put in 100 players. When you look at all the positions and how many from each position we have put in, it is a select class of players. We like to give the best recognition and I think it has grown pretty good throughout the years.”

Kenny Youngs from Lansingburgh, one of the players from the Troy area and one of the best running backs in Section II history, will be one of the players inducted.

“He was one of the best running backs of his time, in terms of yards in history,” Fitzgerald said. “We wait 10 years to pick the players and he has reached 10 years after high school, so we made sure to make him go right in.”

Others being inducted are players Brad Acker and Dave Stewart from Shenendehowa, Roger Ahrens from Hudson Falls, Brian Bonanno and Sal Sollecito from Amsterdam, Adam Durr from Cambridge, Jason Diehl from Troy, Bob Czeb from Nott Terrace, Dion Lewis from Albany Academy, Scott Sicko from LaSalle, Andrew Smith from Guilderland, Justin Tougas from Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs’ Mickey Walczak. For officials it is Chuck Bemis from North Adirondack, for coaches it is Paul Bricoccoli, for service to youth football is Bob Treacy from Watervliet/ North Colonie, for assistant coaches it is George Angley from Shenendehowa and Bruce Stott from Ravena and for service to football it is Tony DiCocco from Scotia.

Fitzgerald said this is an important class with a lot of talent.

“I think it is pretty impressive when you think of the 100 years of history that we have to search through and the players that we had,” Fitzgerald said. “If you look at our history of players, we had I think six or eight NFL players who have won the super bowl, there is a huge list and an incredible list of football players, not only in the pros, but in college as well. The year these guys are inducted, they are in the top five percent of candidates.”

Youngs played for Lansingburgh from 2004 until 2007. In his first season, he rushed for 1081 yards during his freshman year of football. He finished his career with 5,404 yards rushed, putting him in second in the Section II record book.

Lansingburgh managed to reach four sectional title games, won two of them and put together a 38-7 record during Youngs’ time there.

In 2007, Youngs was named the New York State Class A Player of the year by the New York State Sportswriters Associations, scoring 28 touchdowns as Lansingburgh reached the state championship game. In the state finals, Youngs ran 170 yards and scored Lansingburgh’s only touchdown.

Youngs was named to the all-state team two other years as well. In addition, he was named to the Troy Record, Schenectady Gazette and Times Union all-star as a first-team player and Offensive Player of the Year.

After graduating from Lansingburgh, Youngs attended Long Island University, receiving a full scholarship to play football, but he wanted to stay closer to home, so he transferred to Hudson Valley community College where he continued to play football for the Vikings until he graduated in 2012 with an associates degree in individual studies.

Fitzgerald said it is big for these guys to get inducted and be remembered for what they did in high school sports.

“I think it is a special thing,” Fitzgerald said. “I think it is extremely special. There has been one person who isn’t humbled by it. Ernie Stautner, that name is unbelievable. He is in the Pittsburgh Hall of Fame, he is in the Hall of Fame, he coached the Dallas Cowboys for 20 something years and his daughter came up from Dallas to accept for him. It just shows how proud people are to be a part of it.”

For tickets, visit https://2017crfootballhalloffame.eventbrite.com where they can be purchased for $55.